Chapter 313: Chapter 300: The Eagle Egg Hatches 【Added for book friends Sui Feng 1000 and Ru Ye 10000】
"Tier Four Talisman Brush [Azure Wave Golden Pen], this brush is meticulously crafted by a Pen Master who is proficient in making various talisman brushes. The brush handle is made from Tier Four Jiao Dragon Spirit Bone, while the bristles are tanned from Tier Four Spirit Grass [Golden Silk Cloud Grass]."
"After being tested personally by our auction house’s Talisman Maker, using this [Azure Wave Golden Pen] to make spirit talismans of Tier Four or lower, compared to using an ordinary Tier Three talisman brush, the success rate can be improved by at least 20-30%, based on one’s own talisman-making success rate. Even for creating Tier Four spirit talismans, it can increase the success rate by at least 10%."
"The bidding for this item starts now, with a starting price of 150,000 low-grade Spirit Stones, and each increment must not be less than 3,000 low-grade Spirit Stones!"
Inside the "Illusion Hall," as the auctioneer Lin Beihai brought out the seventh auction item of the day, Zhouyang, who had been sitting steadily and calmly on the grand master’s chair, showed interest for the first time.
Since he had chosen Talisman Maker as his second vice occupation, he naturally intended to elevate this craft to Tier Four.
However, compared to Artifact Refining, his talent in talisman-making could only be described as average. It was not extremely poor, but not outstanding either.
In this situation, wanting to improve talisman-making techniques, apart from diligent practice and making many talismans, having a good talisman brush and using quality spiritual ink is also very important.
A good talisman brush, as the auctioneer Lin Beihai mentioned, can directly increase the success rate of talisman-making.
And good spiritual ink can similarly increase the success rate.
It is somewhat surprising that Zhouyang, who possesses tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, is currently using a Tier Two talisman brush.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford a better brush, but he previously felt that a Tier Three talisman brush did not significantly help improve his talisman-making skills, so the brush he truly wanted to buy was a Tier Four talisman brush.
However, Tier Four talisman brushes are extremely rare, even more so than Tier Four Alchemy Furnaces. He traveled to over ten Immortal Cities in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm and couldn’t find one.
Even during his stay in Immortal Sun City, he attended several high-tier cultivator exchange meetings and did not see this item.
Unexpectedly, he found it today on this Flying Giant Ship.
So, after listening to the auctioneer, he immediately waved and shouted, "180,000 Spirit Stones!"
He increased the bid by 30,000 all at once, fully demonstrating his determination to win.
However, the price did not scare off other competitors. Immediately, someone raised their hand and bid, "I’ll bid 190,000 Spirit Stones."
"220,000!"
Zhouyang raised his hand again, increasing the bid by 30,000.
This indeed intimidated most competitors, and for a while, no one dared to bid again.
But just when Zhouyang thought he could achieve his goal, the person who previously bid raised their hand again: "I’ll bid 230,000!"
"250,000!"
He glanced at the bidder, his voice unchanged as if these Spirit Stones were not Spirit Stones, just numbers.
The person competing with him changed his expression slightly, then looked at Zhouyang and cupped his hands, saying, "I admire your boldness, fellow cultivator!"
He decisively gave up bidding.
"Much obliged."
Zhouyang cupped his hands in return and patiently waited for the auctioneer to announce the result.
After a while without any bids, the auctioneer Lin Beihai announced loudly, "Since there are no more bids, this Tier Four talisman brush [Azure Wave Golden Pen] goes to the fellow cultivator in seat number seventy-eight."
Buying a talisman brush that offers no direct assistance in magical combat for 250,000 low-grade Spirit Stones was something Zhouyang had never dared to think about before.
He estimated that if he told his Zhou Family, all the cultivators would be shocked.
However, in the real high-tier cultivator circles, this kind of spending is quite typical.
Golden Core Stage cultivators sometimes spend tens of thousands of Spirit Stones just purchasing raw materials for Artifact Refining or Alchemy, let alone buying finished Tier Five Spiritual Artifacts and Tier Five Spirit Pills.
Earning more and spending more is an eternal truth.
As a certain big merchant said, money isn’t gone when spent; it just stays by your side in a different form.
Moreover, Zhouyang isn’t just spending without earning.
After spending 250,000 Spirit Stones on the Tier Four talisman brush "Azure Wave Golden Pen," his consigned "Kunyuan Ruler" soon sold for 290,000 Spirit Stones at auction,
so after deducting a 5% commission fee, he still made a small profit of several thousand Spirit Stones.
For the rest of the auction, Zhouyang remained a spectator, not bidding on any other treasures.
When the auction ended, the cultivators who won the bids went directly to the auctioneer Lin Beihai to exchange the treasures.
Having obtained the certificate for depositing the "Kunyuan Ruler", Zhouyang received the "Azure Wave Golden Pen" and tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones from Lin Beihai without spending a single spirit stone.
But just as he thought the auction would end like this, Lin Beihai, who had distributed all the treasures, suddenly bowed to the crowd and said, "First, I want to thank all of you fellow Daoists for attending this auction, and secondly, I have good news to share."
"After discussion between three Zhenren from our business group and the elders of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect, we will jointly hold a grand auction every four months for the next year, auctioning off rare treasures from the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm that are normally hard to come by. If any of you fellow Daoists are truly interested, you can prepare your spirit stones in advance and await the grand event."
A grand auction?
Zhouyang’s eyes flashed with interest.
He attended this auction with a specific aim in mind, which was to see if he could buy materials for refining his lifebound spiritual artifact.
Of course, he wasn’t looking for the top-grade materials mentioned by Master Cyan Yang but rather the second-tier materials as mentioned by Master Cyan Yang.
Unfortunately, even those second-tier materials are extremely rare Tier Five spiritual objects that rarely appear at auctions.
Today’s auction did have a few Tier Five spiritual objects offered as centerpiece items, but none were the ones he needed, so he naturally didn’t bid.
Therefore, hearing Lin Beihai mention the grand auction now, he was genuinely interested.
He quietly noted this information in his mind and then left the Flying Giant Ship to return to his cave residence.
Back at his abode, Zhouyang first completed the day’s egg-hatching task before inspecting the items he obtained on the Flying Giant Ship.
Without mentioning the elixirs, the treasure "Soul-Imbued Celestial Book" piqued Zhouyang’s research interest.
The object seemed to be made from some jade-like material and resembled a page of a book, roughly the size of a book.
After casting a spell to refine the magical artifact, dozens of silver symbols, the size of rice grains, appeared like stars on the ink-black surface of the artifact.
As his divine sense touched the silver symbols, he immediately understood the exact function and usage of the artifact.
"These silver symbols... why do they feel so familiar?"
"Ah! I understand, this is written in the Silver Talisman Text used for the Golden Seal Jade Record!"
Zhouyang suddenly exclaimed, his eyes fixed passionately on the silver symbols on the jade book in his hand.
The reason he felt familiarity with these silver symbols earlier was because he had previously tried many times to study the "Golden Seal Text" within the "Qianyang Treasure Pearl" in his Dantian Qi Sea.
"Golden Seal Text" is ranked even higher than "Silver Talisman Text", akin to its traditional version.
Cultivators who have mastered "Golden Seal Text" find learning "Silver Talisman Text" to be much easier.
Conversely, those only familiar with "Silver Talisman Text" would struggle when trying to understand "Golden Seal Text", as Zhouyang did, finding them as cryptic as celestial writings, unable to comprehend any symbol’s meaning.
"No wonder the Donghua Sect cultivators confidently claimed that only their sect could refine this [Soul-Imbued Celestial Book], it turns out the refinement method wasn’t self-invented, but derived from a fragmented page of [Golden Seal Jade Record]!"
Zhouyang suddenly realized the true origin of the "Soul-Imbued Celestial Book".
Understanding this, his interest in researching the treasure diminished, knowing well that with his current artifact refining skills and ability, he would gain nothing from the "Silver Talisman Text".
Thus he decisively stored away the "Soul-Imbued Celestial Book" and began refining the Male Pendant from the pair of "Spirit Rhinoceros Jade Pendants".
Once he refined the "Spirit Rhinoceros Jade Pendant", he immediately wore it around his waist, then proceeded to refine the "Azure Wave Golden Pen" and tested its efficacy in talisman crafting.
The results were good; Zhouyang used the "Azure Wave Golden Pen" to create spirit talismans, whether Tier Three or Tier Two, achieving the effectiveness mentioned by the auctioneer, clearly enhancing the success rate.
Quality matches price, truly a vital treasure in talisman crafting, worth its price of twenty-five thousand spirit stones.
For the next few months, Zhouyang spent his days hatching the eagle egg outside the cave for two hours, then devoted the remaining time to studying advanced sword arrays in the "Great Derivation Sword Technique" and enhancing his talisman-making techniques through drawing spirit talismans.
Thus, after three busy months, the "Golden-winged Thunder Eagle" egg finally hatched!
Crack! Crack!
This day, as usual, Zhouyang activated an array to channel lightning to strike the eagle egg, yet less than half an hour had passed when he heard the cracking sound of an egg breaking.
This startled him; he feared he might have mishandled the process, causing the egg to break.
Fortunately, in the next instant, he saw a pale yellow beak emerging from a crack in the eggshell, and then watched as the little eagle inside the egg gradually broke the shell apart, fully arriving into the world.
Chirp chirp chirp!
The newly hatched little eagle was about the size of an old mother hen and had feathers covering its body, enabling the power of flight.
Clearly, the newly hatched little eagle assumed Zhouyang, whom it first saw upon hatching, to be its parent, and after breaking free from the shell, chirped loudly and flapped its wings, flying towards him.